Handmade botanical journal: Meadowsweet (ochre)

Handmade botanical journal: Meadowsweet (ochre)

A beautiful handmade journal created using an original botanical print.

Perfect for sketching, making notes or lists, writing down quotes; for use as a nature journal or for capturing thoughts and ideas, poems, stories… A gratitude journal or scrapbook…

Each journal I make is unique and is the result of a considered process: I gather plant material locally through the seasons and preserve it (by pressing and carefully storing) in my own little ‘herbarium’ here on the beautiful Isle of Skye. I often refer to my wildflower guidebooks to identify species and types I’m not already familiar with, and this in itself is part of the journey. Once the stems, flowers and leaves are ready for use I select those for that day’s printmaking (for me, they must relate to one another in form and size) and then mix my inks. The coloured layer goes on first and the plant material is arranged so it is pleasing to the eye, then the whole thing goes through the etching press.

The print is then left in the workroom to dry for several days before the process is repeated using black ink. After a final drying period I fold and crease the print to form a journal cover, add the inner pages and bind the whole thing together using waxed thread.

Every journal is unique; a little piece of art, and because the plant material I use for printmaking is essentially ephemeral, each one captures within it a brief moment of time. The plants become brittle with use and eventually disintegrate. And so the whole process of collecting and preserving and printmaking begins again in time with the ever-shifting seasons…

I use recycled cotton rag paper for the printed covers, and high quality inks. The recycled rag paper has torn, or ‘deckled’ edges, and a slightly rough texture with the odd mark and imperfection due to the manufacturing process. There are 32 inner pages of high quality, heavyweight blank (unlined) paper and allowing for very slight variations (again due to the covers) each journal is A5 in size unless otherwise stated.

Please see the bottom of the listing for shipping and delivery information.